Posts

There are many guides and articles available online that say that you can potty train a child in a day. Even if it’s not a day, you would have most probably seen guides that state, “Potty Train Your Child in 3 Days” or “The 7 Day Potty Training Plan”. If you want to give these programs a try, it is okay but there is no mandate on how long potty training should be.

You may be wondering, “Do these programs even work?”… “Why is it taking my child so long?”While these may be valid questions, there are a few other questions that you should ask yourself.

“What is the rush?”… “Why do you have a deadline?”… “Did I learn how to read and write in a day?”…now that you’re an adult, if someone gave you 5 oranges and asked you to juggle them, would you be able to learn how to do it in a day?

Definitely not. Potty training may be easy for you but for your child, it’s a whole new process. They will need to overcome some fear and understand what they are doing. There is a learning process involved and it will take time.

You can’t rush the learning process. Trying to, will just stress your poor child out and aggravate you. Some children learn faster than others. Depending on your child, you will just need to be patient and see how it goes.

Forget about meeting a deadline and getting them to learn it in a day or three days. It doesn’t make you a better parent if your child is potty trained in record time. It’s true that the hassle of changing diapers will end, but rest assured that it will end in a matter of time. If it takes a little longer, so be it.

As long as you know what you are doing and your child is ready to be potty trained, you will do just fine and your child will learn well. Encourage them, praise them and make the process fun. That is the best way to speed up the process. Don’t get irritated, angry or even spank them if they make a mistake.This will just create a very hostile and unpleasant situation. It will actually impede your child’s potty training progress because he/she is scared now. That will mean that the whole process takes longer.

You should do whatever you can to assist your child to make transition. Get a colorful potty chair that appeals to them. Use potty training charts. Offer rewards and praise when they do a good job. Get them shorts that they can easily pull up and pull down. They shouldn’t be struggling to remove their shorts or undies..

There are many little games that can be used to potty train your child. You should go online and research these games or get an online guide on potty training to help you out. There are a few proven bestsellers that have helped thousands to train their child. So, you can get one to help you out.

At the end of the day, just remember that there is no rush. Your child will definitely be potty trained if you keep at it. Let go of your expectations, be patient and have a sense of humor about the whole thing. In the big scheme of life, this is one of those times that you will look back on in amusement one day in the future. For now, grin and bear it.

Wouldn’t it be great if you just brought your toddler to the potty and he or she instinctively knew what to do? It’s not happening. You will need to potty train your child before they know how to use the toilet. This process will be a test of your patience and it may get frustrating. Yet, it’s an inevitable process that every parent will need to go through.

Most people have a rough idea of what potty training is but they mistakenly assume that all one needs to do is show a child how he/she should use a potty and he/she will readily start cooperating. The truth of the matter is that you will need to pre-potty train your toddler.

What? Pre-potty train? What’s that?

Basically, it’s like warming up before the grand event. A child that is starting to be potty trained should be able to hold their urine at least for 15-30 minutes. They’ll also be able to follow 1 to 2 directions of yours at a time. Your child should also be aware when he/she is about to urinate or have a bowel movement.

You will need to be on the lookout for the signs mentioned above and once you notice them and finish jumping for joy, you will need to start having practice sessions with your child. Teach them how to pull down their pants and pull them back up on their own. Teach them about the use of the potty chair or potty seat adapter. Let them practice flushing the toilet if they are using the potty adapter seat. Let them read and watch videos about using the potty to get them mentally ready to begin potty training. The video below is a great example of a pre-potty training tool.

You will need to encourage your toddler during pre-potty training and be excited about it. This is a slow process and if you lose your patience, show signs of irritation and anger, your child will pick up on the negative energy and the whole process will be stressful. In some cases, your child may be reluctant and uncooperative, so be patient and reinforce the anticipation of potty independence.

Exercise patience and be cheerful about it. Rest assured that your child is not going to end up a teenager in diapers. Pre-potty training prepares your child for his new milestone. The potty training period you will be going through will pass by quickly and you may look back on it in amusement one day.

Night time potty training should only be done once your toddler has gotten the day time potty training routine down. If your child is still not too sure in the day, it’ll be better to wait. At least, your own sleep will not be interrupted to engage in exercises in futility.

There will always be some children who accept potty training more readily than others. That’s just the way things are and you should not compare your child to other people’s children. Each child has his/her own pace of learning and while one child may be a potty independent at 18 months, another may only be ready for it at 24 months.

When doing potty training at night, make sure your child is in a pull-up or training pants with barrier protection such as a plastic overpant. Just in case you sleep off, your child will not wet the sheets. It goes without saying that you should encourage him/her often and shower them with praise when they manage to keep themselves dry and clean.

Children respond very well to positive affirmations from their parents. Since your child has been wearing training pants during the day, tell your child that it is fine to wear a pull-up at night and that they are not doing anything wrong. There are a few steps that you can take to assist your child to stay dry at night.

You should limit their fluid consumption after 6 pm and make sure they go potty just before going to bed. Just before you sleep, wake them up and bring them to the potty to go again.

This will be heartbreaking to parents who do not wish to wake a peacefully sleeping child. Nevertheless, it should be done and this will only be done for a few weeks and you can help them into the bathroom. Most children are able to stay dry throughout the night after a few weeks of this process.

Some children may have restless sleep or nightmares. Sometimes this is a sign that they may need to go potty. Wake them up and bring them to the bathroom.

Night time potty training is more difficult because some children have difficulty waking and wet the bed without being aware of what is going on. You must be understanding and patient. There are children who are 8 to 10 years old who have the same problem. So, it’s not unique to your child.

Don’t scold or embarrass your child if they wet the bed. They feel bad enough as it is. Have them help you to clean the sheets and make them do more of the work. When they see the amount of effort involved due to their mistake, they will be more alert and proactive at night.

If despite your best efforts the problem persists for a long time, you should bring your child to the doctor to check if there might be other issues that you need to be aware of. Bedwetting may be a symptom for some underlying physical problem. For the majority of children, this will not be the case. However, it doesn’t hurt to check and be sure.

Try the above mentioned tips for night time potty training. Just remember that night time potty training will take time and you will need to be consistent and patient during the process.

Most children learn best when they enjoy the process. Young children such as toddlers are at an age where they look upon everything with rose-tinted glasses and a sense of awe. Everything is wonderful and new. Their spirit yearns for happiness and play. Unlike many adults who have “soured” over the years due to failures and disappointments, children like being happy. In order to potty train your child successfully, you’ll need to make the entire learning experience fun and rewarding.

We will discuss 8 different methods that you can use to encourage your child to use the potty and comply with your instructions. You’ll face less resistance and your child will be much more eager to sit on the potty chair.

1. Use the blue and yellow make green method. Show your child that by adding a few drops of blue coloring in the toilet water, it will turn blue. When they pee in the water it will turn green. This will work for many children and encourage them to use the toilet bowl.

2. Get them a musical potty chair. The music will be fun to them and they’ll look forward to using the potty. for some children.( Mine would just continue to play with this potty and not use it for the serious work of actually using it.)

3. Practice toilet target practice with your boys. Place a few small cereals in the toilet water and encourage your son to take aim at the cereal.

4. Don’t worry. There are potty training dolls for girls to help them. These dolls are anatomically correct and by feeding the doll water, it will pee too. This will build association in your child’s mind and help her to understand the process.

5. Get your child a potty training watch. These watches have reminders and the watch will vibrate at 30 minute intervals. This will remind the child to go to the potty and pee if they need to. It’s the constant repetition that makes this method so effective.

6. As mentioned in previous posts, use books, videos and DVDs specifically created to help with the potty training process to educate your child and make them understand what is going on. Many kids are hesitant to be potty trained because they fear what they do not understand.

7. Use charts and stickers to motivate your kids. Children are naturally attracted to these colorful objects and they will be motivated to use the potty if they are rewarded with a sticker each time they get it right. Over time, decrease the frequency of rewards and give them a small gift if they stay dry and clean for 3 days in a row.

8. Get them toilet training pants that are bright, attractive and colorful. Make sure that your child is the one who chooses the pants and not you.

All these methods can be used interchangeably to keep things interesting and fun. Despite all these unique methods, there may be times when your child accidentally messes up and makes a mistake. Take this in your stride and don’t blow it out of proportion.

Gently remind them of the toilet and let it go at that. They will realize that they need to hit the potty every time they feel an urge to pee or poop. Once the realization hits them, they will do it on their own accord and you can breathe a huge sigh of relief.

P.S. What methods do you use to make potty training more fun for your child?

Potty training your child is an experience that is different for each family and depends greatly on cultural and environmental factors. The age at which a child should be toilet trained may vary from culture to culture and from family to family in each culture. According to my Internet research, here in the United States, before the 1950’s, most children were using the potty as early as the first few months from birth and completely toilet trained by age 1. During the 1970’s, 18 months old was when most children were potty trained. Over the years, the average age for being potty trained has increased. Today the average age is from 2 years old to 3 years old.

Potty Training and Psychology

The philosophy to hold off on potty training until later in a child’s life stems from a change in how potty training was seen in the 20th century by psychiatrists, psychologists and pediatricians of the industrialized nations such as the United States. The emphasis on the psychological impact of how people progress through childhood growth and development, gained major momentum in the early 1900’s. During the mid 1900’s psychiatrists such as Freud, contended that anxieties and other adult personality problems stem from the mishandling of childhood milestones such as developing trust and other life events such as potty training.

Many pediatricians, psychiatrists and psychologists today subscribe to the psychological impact theory and support the “readiness” approach to everything in childhood development, including the readiness to be potty trained. Dr. Brazelton, a leading modern pediatrician subscribes to the readiness theory and advocates this, so it has become the conventional thought for potty training.

Diaper Free – No diaper Baby

Pediatrician, Dr. Jill M. Lekovic contends that toilet training can begin as early as 9 months. She also contends that this is a healthy age to begin and it is beneficial for your child. Toilet training is less stressful according to Dr. Lekovic for the parent and the child if they start early because it becomes part of the child’s routine. Your child will not remember “unlearning” to go in their diapers because they will only remember using the potty or toilet. She has written a book, Diaper-Free Before 3. Dr. Lekovic recommends to parents ways to help their children communicate with them and both parents’and children become aware of the child’s body signals for elimination.

(click on image for book preview)

According to my research of reference materials on the Internet, there is no scientific studies or basis to support Dr. Brazelton’s theory that potty training needs to be an area to tread lightly. Since babies are usually potty trained before age 1 in other cultures such as in Malaysia, it seems that potty training at an earlier age does not affect the child’s developing personality.

If you look at the readiness view and the elimination communication view objectively, it is not about when your child is ready. He is ready at birth to eat, eliminate and grow. It’when his family is ready to provide a way to help him to eat and direct him where to eliminate…the diaper or the toilet that makes the difference. On the other hand, Dr. Brazelton has a point when he says EC (elimination communication) does not fit well in industrialized societies where the mother and father quite often are employed outside the home. They may not have enough time to observe their baby for elimination cues. The modern pace of life is a obstacle to EC but if one follows the argument for EC, babies could be potty trained by the time moms were done with maternity leave which is about a six week period.

There are benefits to EC potty training for baby’s family such as saving money, better skin health for the baby’s bottom, closeness to and bonding for baby and family members. Environmentally, it would reduce synthetic disposable diapers filling up landfills. The disposable diaper companies would have to develop other products.

The downside is it takes time and is difficult to travel because facilities may not be available when you need them. You would have to have a babysitter or another family member willing to continue the EC potty training if you need to leave for work or other obligations where you could not bring your baby along.

All in all, potty training can be done in different ways. When it is done depends on the family and their frame of reference about child rearing from traditional or conventional views and the knowledge they are privy to. Potty training at an early age, elimination communication view or potty training, readiness view, at a later age 18 months- 2 1/2 years old, depends upon the family. The success of either potty training view is obtained through consistency, patience and love.

P.S. Why do you think children aren’t potty trained as early as they used to be in early 20th century?